The present invention relates to turbine engines, and more particularly to improved annular components, such as axial compressor components for a turbine engine, and methods of assembling same in a turbine engine.
An aircraft gas turbine engine of the conventional turbofan type generally includes a forward bypass fan, a low pressure compressor, a high pressure compressor, a combustor, a high pressure turbine, and a low pressure turbine, all located along a common longitudinal axis. The low and high pressure compressors are rotatably driven to compress entering air to a relatively high pressure. This high pressure air is then mixed with fuel in the combustor, where it is ignited to form a high energy gas stream. This gas stream flows axially aft to rotatably drive the high pressure turbine, which rotatably drives the high pressure compressor via a high spool shaft. The gas stream leaving the high pressure turbine is expanded through the low pressure turbine, which rotatably drives the forward bypass fan and the low pressure compressor via a low spool shaft.
Although highly efficient, conventional turbofan engines operate in an axial flow relationship. The axial flow relationship results in a relatively complicated elongated engine structure of considerable length relative to the engine diameter. This elongated shape may complicate or prevent packaging of the engine into particular applications.
A recent development in gas turbine engines is the tip turbine engine. Tip turbine engines include hollow fan blades that receive core airflow therethrough such that the hollow fan blades operate as a centrifugal compressor. Compressed core airflow from the hollow fan blades is mixed with fuel in an annular combustor, where it is ignited to form a high energy gas stream which drives the turbine that is integrated onto the tips of the hollow bypass fan blades for rotation therewith as generally disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos.: 20030192303; 20030192304; and 20040025490. The tip turbine engine provides a thrust-to-weight ratio equivalent to or greater than conventional turbofan engines of the same class, but within a package of significantly shorter length.
Both conventional and tip turbine engines may include a low pressure axial compressor. Such low pressure axial compressors include a plurality of axial compressor rotor blade assemblies each having a compressor rotor and a plurality of compressor blades extending radially therefrom. Conventionally, each blade is separately cast to include an airfoil portion and a root portion. The root portion of each conventional blade is slidably received within one of a plurality of grooves on the axial compressor rotor and is retained therein by an enlarged portion of the root portion. These conventional root connections increase the overall weight of the axial compressor rotor blade assemblies, as do the conventional connections between the multiple axial compressor rotor blade assemblies themselves. Therefore, lighter weight connections between the blades and the rotor in axial compressor rotor blade assemblies, and between the multiple axial compressor rotor blade assemblies themselves, would be desirable.